Automotive wheel speed sensor assembly with multipole rotor mounted on wheel bearing spindle

ABSTRACT

There is described a speed sensor that is particularly adaptable to moving vehicles such as automobiles. A permanent magnet, stator assembly, and field coil are held within a cup that is adapted to mate a bearing assembly of a non-driven wheel of the vehicle. Rotor poles are carried on the wheel spindle. A magnetic flux is provided by the permanent magnet, the flux passing through the rotor poles which rotate with the wheel and through poles of the stator assembly. As the wheel turns, the rotor poles are at times aligned with the stator poles across on air gap and at other times not aligned across an air gap, the air gap being in a plane parallel to the plane in which the wheel rotates. This results in a changing magnetic flux, which in turn generates an alternating voltage current in the field coil. The alternating current so generated is then fed through an electrical terminal to a vehicle computer.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 07/171,162 filed Mar. 21, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,936 which itself is a continuation of application Ser. No. 06/835,514 filed Mar. 3, 1986 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a speed sensor and more particularly to a speed sensor that is particularly useful in braking systems of vehicles such as automobiles.

Magnetic type induction speed sensors have been used to measure the speed of rotating members for some years. However, when used in automobiles, for example, the systems were attached externally to the wheel bearing assembly and were exposed to the environment. This is especially hazardous when it is considered that the vehicle travels over all types of roadways.

The present invention represents an improvement over such prior art systems in that the speed sensor functions within a grease cup of the automobile's wheel bearing assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly there is provided a speed sensor that is particularly adaptable to vehicle braking systems which in general comprises a cup, an open end of which is adapted to mate a wheel bearing assembly of a vehicle; a permanent magnet, a stator assembly, and a field coil all carried in said cup; and electrical terminals electrically coupled to said field coil and extending outside said cup.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a speed sensor assembly employing the features of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial section of the speed sensor of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial section of another embodiment of a speed sensor assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a speed sensor assembly 10 that is contained within a grease cup 12 of a wheel bearing assembly 14 of an automobile. In general, wheel bearing assembly 14 includes a spindle 16 that rotates within housing 18 through bearings 19. An automobile wheel (not shown) is carried on spindle 16 to be rotated with the spindle. Normally, the speed sensor assembly will be located on a spindle assembly of a wheel that is not driven by the automobile engine. Grease cup 12 is fabricated of steel in order to provide good flux through the cup.

A plurality of rotor poles 22 extend from a rotor ring 17 which is press fitted onto spindle 16 through flange 24 which is also press fitted onto the spindle. The rotor ring as well as the poles are fabricated of steel or sintered iron in order to provide a good magnetic flux path.

Speed sensor assembly 10 includes a stator pole piece 26, a field coil 28, and a permanent magnet 30. Stator pole piece 26 is fabricated from steel or sintered iron and includes a plurality of poles 32 of the same polarity that extend over an arc of a portion of a circle and through a slot 42 of plate 38 to be in working relation to rotor poles 22. Permanent magnet 30 is fabricated of a barium ferrite or similar magnet material. Field coil 28 is carried on a coil bobbin 33 in an annular space 34. The bobbin has a central aperture 36 in which the stator pole piece 26 is substantially carried. Here, "substantially carried" means the structure as shown in FIG. 2 in which the major portion of stator pole piece 26 is contained within the aperture 36. The whole assembly is held together through plate 38 and rivet 40.

An electrical connector 44 is attached to grease cup 12 and carries two electrical terminals 46 which engage bobbin 33. As shown, the terminals are bent over at a right angle to create a compact assembly. The terminal is held in place by ring 48 which is connected to cup 12 in sealing relation through o-ring 50.

In operation, a magnetic flux path is created around the grease cup 12 and the rotor ring 17 and through stator 26 by the permanent magnet 30 when the rotor and stator poles are aligned. When rotor poles 22 are rotated simultaneously with the rotation of spindle 16, the magnetic flux in the gap between the rotor poles 22 and stator poles 32 changes in intensity as the rotor moves from tooth to tooth of the stator poles. That is, upon misalignment of the rotor and stator poles, the flux sweeps through field coil 28 to a position around an edge of permanent magnet 30 causing a change in flux at the gap. This changing intensity in combination with the flux sweep causes an alternating voltage to be generated in field coil 28 in which is then fed to a computer through electrical terminals 46. The use of a few stator poles as opposed to a single pole or poles extending around a complete circle provides the strongest magnetic pulsations and optimum generation of AC voltage in coil 28.

In addition, both the stator poles and rotor poles are tapered toward their tips such that the tip is less in thickness than the space between individual teeth. This also increases the concentration of the magnetic flux generated at the poles.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the rotor poles are made part of the speed sensor assembly that is contained within grease cup 90. Thus as shown, speed sensor assembly includes a stator cup 104 having an open end, a permanent magnet 100 carried on a rotatable hub 102, field coil 106 carried in bobbin 108, and rotor poles 110. Stator poles 112 are attached to a stator cup 104. They interact magnetically with rotor poles 110. A cover plate 114 closes the open end of the stator cup. Hub 102 rotates in bushings 116 and 118.

Hub 102 is mechanically coupled to spindle 16 through a bar or plate 120 that is fixed to the hub and a pin 122 that is carried by the spindle through flange 124. Rotation of spindle 16 causes engagement of pin 122 with bar 120 to rotate hub 102 and thus permanent magnet 100 and rotor poles 110. Rotation of the rotor poles causes an alternating current to be induced in field coil 106 in the same manner as that with respect to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. 

What is claimed is:
 1. The combination of a vehicle wheel speed sensor with a vehicle wheel assembly, said combination comprising:a wheel bearing housing; a wheel bearing spindle rotatable about an axis in said wheel bearing housing; rotor means fixedly mounted on said spindle for providing one or more poles that rotate with said spindle; stator means for providing one or more poles that do not rotate with said spindle, said stator means including a field coil for sensing a changing magnetic flux; magnetic means mounted on said stator for providing a magnetic flux through said rotor means and said stator means, said magnetic means comprising;a magnet for producing said magnetic flux; ferromagnetic means for causing said magnetic flux to sweep through said field coil when said one or more rotor poles move from a position in which they are aligned with said one or more stator poles to a position in which they are not so aligned; and flange means attached to and encircling said spindle about a radius that is further from said axis of said spindle than said one or more rotor poles and for providing a flux path from said one or more rotor poles to said magnet; support means for fixedly supporting said stator means on said housing so that as said spindle turns said one or more rotor poles are at times aligned with said one or more stator poles across on air gap and at other times are no aligned across said air gap, said air gap being substantially in a plane perpendicular to said axis about which said spindle rotates.
 2. The combination as in claim 1 wherein said ferromagnetic means further comprises means for completing a flux path from said flange to said magnet whereby a flux path passing from said magnet through said stator means, said rotor means, and said flange means back to said magnet end circles said coil.
 3. The combination as in claim 1 wherein one of said rotor means and said stator means has no more than a few poles and the other of said rotor means and said stator means has poles spaced substantially entirely around the circumference of a circle. 